Meet The Team

Alex MacFarlane, Evan Dunstone and William Bayliss.

Our Maker’s Mark represents our pact with you to craft a truly special piece of contemporary fine furniture.
In early 2007, Evan commissioned sculptor (and Olympic gold medalist in archery) Simon Fairweather to design and produce the “Maker’s Mark” for Dunstone Design. Evan particularly enjoyed his chance to be on the “client” side of the commissioning process for a change. Afixing our maker's mark to your furniture is the final thing we do prior to delivery.

Evan Dunstone

Evan Dunstone is a designer, craftsman, educator and writer. He embarked on the long journey as a craftsman after a career as a bush pilot in the far west of NSW and Far North Queensland. Trained by David MacLaren, craftsman and owner of the Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, Dunstone is a 2001 Churchill Fellow in contemporary chair design and manufacture. He has travelled widely and worked with some of the finest craftsmen in the English speaking world.

As well as training his own team of award winning makers, Evan is in much demand as a teacher of wood craftsmanship and design. In 2009 he travelled fortnightly from Canberra to teach at the Australian School of Fine Furniture, University of Tasmania, Launceston. He has also taught at the Wood Workshop, Canberra School of Art and the Sturt School For Wood, Mittagong. Evan is a regular contributor to Australian Wood Review and is regularly invited to judge exhibitions of wood craftsmanship and furniture design.

In 2018, Evan, along with John Madden, created the first Wood Dust Australia event in Queanbeyan and Bungendore. After the October event, Evan descided to focus on Dunstone Design and sold his shares in Craft Media Australia (the company that ran Wood Dust) to John Madden.

Evan has designed everything from simple freestanding pieces for private clients through to major boardroom commissions. He is very much “hands on” and spends at least half his time at the workbenches with his makers. He selects almost every board of timber for every project made by Dunstone Design.

The Heart of Dunstone Design

Alex MacFarlane

Alex is the Dunstone Design workshop manager. His exceptional organisational ability is behind some of our best workshop innovations. Alex joined Dunstone Design in 2006 after spending a year at a kitchen joinery in Bathurst, NSW. His passion for the craft and for chairs is infectious. He is a natural chair maker and these days makes the lion’s share of Dunstone Design’s chairs, including the wickedly complicated Cascade Rocking Chair.
No chair is too complicated nor jig too daunting. Alex designed the MacFarlane Bowsander, which is named after him.

William Bayliss

William is a Canberra local who started as an apprentice with us in July of 2015. As well as devoting himself to the craft of furniture making, William is also a keen stills and video photographer. Many of the images and videos that you will see on our website were shot by William. William won "Open Champion" with his Aquarium Cabinet at the 2017 "Treasures in Timber" competition. He was runner up in the 2017 FIAA Aprentice of the Year award and Silver medalist in the 2017 ACT/NSW World Skills competition. William was awarded the John Tiddy Memorial Award in 2018 for the ACT/NSW region.

In May 2019, William won the $10,000 Wootha Prize for his Torrent Audio Cabinet in figured blackwood. At 20, William is by far the youngest maker to ever win the Wootha. The Wootha Prize is the richest annual woodworking prize in Australia and is part of the Maleny Wood Expo. This exceptional achievment has brought William to the attention of the Australian woodworking community.

Simon Fairweather OAM

Simon is a sculptor, jeweller and elite athlete. He designed the Dunstone Design Maker’s Mark and regularly makes bespoke fitting, such as handles, for our art furniture. He specialises in lost-wax castings but is just as happy carving solid timber as he is working with wax. He has a particularly delicate touch when depicting animals and insects. Simon won the Gold Medal in archery at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He was archery World Champion and Young Australian of the Year in 1991.

Shannon Henry

Shannon is one of Australia’s leading pyrographic calligraphers and artists. Whenever we need something special written on a piece of our art furniture, we simply ask Shannon to apply her skills to a piece of rock maple that we then inlay in to a door or drawer side. Shannon has her own practice a few streets away from our workshop where she works on commissions and exhibition pieces.

I was unwittingly collecting Evan's work before I knew it; I happened to buy a couple of his early pieces through a gallery when he was just starting out.
Two years ago, he called me up and said "Tony, I have finally found the log!" He called it his "Number 2" log because it was only the second log… - Dr. Tony Tonks, Canberra Plastic Surgery

I commissioned from Evan- to the measurements that my occupational therapist recommended- a rocking chair, a dining chair and an outdoor chair. My chairs are works of art, bring me joy, comfort and lots of favourable comments. I'm housebound and I like to be surrounded by beautiful things that are p… - Philip Murphy

My wife Angela and I received a Tamar coffee table crafted by the incredibly skilled team at Dunstone Design as a wedding gift from some very good friends.
It was completely unexpected and totally over the top as far as wedding gifts go and we love it.
We had an awkward space to fill in our sitti… - Damian Schroeter, nFlame Creative

We had an aging display cabinet (nearly forty years old), which had passed its use by date. We had always admired the items on show in the Dunstone Design showroom but making the leap to a commissioned or even a showroom floor piece was a big step.
We visited Evan in the showroom and explained ou… - Steve Neilsen